The No Label Needed Contest & Series is a collaboration between Metal Insider and Scion to give one unsigned artist an entire DIY music industry education and launch a release without the help of a label. We’ll be posting features and updates on the contest & series periodically on Metal Insider. Find out more about No Label Needed here.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll be taking a closer look at each of the No Label Needed finalists. Today, we’re featuring Hammerlord.
Formed in 2008 in Lawrence, Kansas, the band is comprised of Adam Mitchell on drums, Terry Taylor on bass, Stevie Cruz on vocals and J.P. Gaughan and Ty Scott on guitars. Cruz took some time aside from campaigning for the lead in public votes to answer a few of our questions.
Why should people vote for you over the other finalists?
People should vote for whoever they want. However, our band is going to keep working hard and go on pushing ourselves to write the best songs we can, create records that we enjoy and slay shows on the regular. I can guarantee that if we do win and get the opportunity to record with Machine, that EP will kick your dick in the dirt, and you’ll be thankful you voted for us.
If you could get one endorsement/sponsorship, what would it be?
I’m sure everyone in the band could really use some new gear. Being the vocalist, I don’t need much, but personally would enjoy being sponsored by David Lynch. How rad would it be to have Lynch do our music videos and live visuals? A man can dream right?!
What is the local scene like in your hometown?
It’s really healthy and diverse, and lately every one’s been really supportive. There is a pretty rich history of bands from our area who have totally created their own sound and did and their own thing, bands like: Season to Risk, Manilla Road, Kill Creek, Coalesce, Shiner, Dead Orchestra, Paw and Order from Chaos, just to name a few. We are definitely inspired by our environment and proud to be from the mid-west!
What’s the first metal record you ever bought?
2Live Crew’s As Nasty as They Wanna Be, how metal is that!? That same year though, at baseball practice, I traded my 2Live tape to a kid who stole a tape from his older brother. On one side of the tape was Metallica’s Master of Puppets and on the other side was W.A.S.P.’s Inside the Electric Circus. That tape changed my life. Tapes! I didn’t start buying actual records until much later, but the first slab of vinyl I purchased was Testament’s Practice What You Preach.
Who is your favorite non-metal band/artist?
Too many to mention, I as well as everyone in the band listens to a bunch of non-metal. Lately I have been digging the new Fever Ray. My all-time favorite artist is John Coltrane.
Public voting for the No Label Needed Contest & Series presented by Scion runs through March 8. Visit the No Label Needed microsite to listen to Hammerlord and the 19 other finalists and cast your vote!
